Efficient and secure communication using wireless service identifiers

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for reducing communications between servers and a mobile device and providing enhanced security and privacy to wireless beacon services. This can involve a broadcast device transmitting a beacon transmission using a short range wireless radio, such a Bluetooth or WiFi, and including a MAC address, a first unique identifier, and a beacon service identifier. The mobile device then selects one or more unique identifiers from received beacon transmissions, by filtering (that is, selecting) those beacon transmissions which include the beacon service identifier. The wireless device then takes further action, if the first unique identifier is present among the selected one or more unique identifiers, using stored information from the server. The stored information may be delivered to the wireless device in response to the wireless device sending the first unique identifier to a server, or the stored information may have been previously downloaded.

BACKGROUND

This patent application relates to wireless communication, and moreparticularly to efficient and secure communication using wirelessservice identifiers, such as Bluetooth or WiFi beacon serviceidentifiers.

Most mobile phones on the market today support at least two wirelessstandards; one for the cellular wireless wide area network connection(WWAN) and one for a wireless personal or local area network (WPAN,WLAN). The cellular connection or WWAN is utilized for voice and dataand can adhere to many different standards such as CDMA (IS-2000), GSM,W-CDMA, 1×EV-DO, HSDPA, EDGE, GPRS, WiMax, etc. The WPAN or WLANconnection is typically for short range communications and is often usedfor wireless hands free devices, such as headsets, peripherals, orhigher speed internet connections. The typical standards used for thesort range wireless communications include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and in somecases Ultra-Wide-Band (UWB).

In another approach to mobile networking some services have attempted toutilize short range wireless capabilities often available on phones suchas IEEE802.11 (Wi-Fi) or Bluetooth to facilitate peer to peercommunications. These are also referred to a MANETs or Mobile Ad-hocNetworks. These services typically consist of a software applicationoperating on a mobile phone using peer to peer networks to facilitatecommunication between wireless devices. Examples of such existingapplications include Mobile-Cheddar, Peer-2-Me, and Flobbi. Published USPatent application US 2008/0182591 A1 filed Dec. 13, 2007 describes onesuch peer to peer approach.

One issue with these approaches is that all information to be exchangedmust be stored locally on each of the peer devices as the communicationoccurs directly between the two devices and any policy for the deliveryof locally stored content is difficult to enforce without the potentialfor fraud such as spoofing identities between the peers. Such fraud maylead to concerns of personal safety or privacy allowing the identity ofan individual to be determined when it is not desired.

SUMMARY

Preferred embodiments are generally concerned with facilitating theexchange of information between two entities associated with twowireless devices. In one embodiment, this can be accomplished by a firstdevice using a first short range wireless capability to detect anidentifier transmitted from a second device, ideally using existingshort range radio communication standard capabilities such as Bluetooth(IEEE802.15.1-2002) or Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11). The detected identifier,being associated with the device, is also associated with an entity.Rather than directly exchanging application data flow between the twodevices using the short range wireless capability, a second wirelesscapability then allows for one or more of the devices to communicatewith a central server via the internet, and perform an exchange ofapplication data flow. By using a central server to draw on storedinformation and content associated with the entity or entities, theserver can manage the subsequent exchange of information between theentities and the devices. In a preferred embodiment, this exchange maybe comprised of information stored on the server associated with adetected entity, and it may be comprised of information received fromthe detected device via the second wireless capability and facilitatedby the server.

In addition, the server can also allow for a brokering service, ideallyindependent of the entities, to enable the application of policy basedon the identity of the two entities for the disclosure of storedinformation associated with the entities, the flow in informationbetween the devices and the entities, and the enablement of proceduressuch as security verification between the entities.

In one embodiment, a method is provided for reducing communicationsbetween one or more servers and a wireless device, as well as providingenhanced security and privacy to wireless beacon services.

The method involves transmitting, by at least one beacon transmitterusing a short range wireless radio, a first beacon transmission in afirst time period. The beacon, which may be a short range wirelessprotocol such a Bluetooth or WiFi service beacon, comprises a first MACaddress, a first unique identifier, and a beacon service identifier.

Using a second radio, the one or more servers also transmit storedinformation relating to an entity or object associated with the firstunique identifier.

A first plurality of beacon transmissions are received by the wirelessdevice during the first time period.

The wireless device then selects one or more unique identifiers from thefirst plurality of beacon transmissions, by filtering (that is,selecting) only those beacon transmissions which include the beaconservice identifier.

The wireless device then takes further action, if the first uniqueidentifier is present among the selected one or more unique identifiers,using the stored information, which includes at least the identity ofthe entity or object associated with the first unique identifier.

Other embodiments may transmit, by the same beacon transmitter using theshort range wireless radio, a second beacon transmission in a secondtime period. The second beacon transmission also includes a second MACAddress, a second unique identifier, and the same beacon serviceidentifier. In this embodiment, the wireless device also receives, usingthe short range wireless radio, a second plurality of beacontransmissions during the second time period, as well as second storedinformation relating to the entity or object associated with the secondunique identifier, from the one or more servers using a second radio.

In those embodiments, a second set of one or more unique identifiers areselected from the second plurality of beacon transmissions, by filteringthe second plurality of beacon transmissions which include the samebeacon service identifier. Further action taken is taken related to thesecond stored information, if the second unique identifier is presentamong the selected second set of one or more unique identifiers.

In some embodiments, the further action may include preventing thesending of the first or second unique identifier by the first wirelessdevice to the one or more servers.

In some embodiments, the MAC address is a randomly generated 48 bitnumber matching a format of a Bluetooth BD_ADDR.

In some embodiments, the further action may include determining that atleast one beacon transmitter is a broadcast device having apredetermined location.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing will be apparent from the following more particulardescription of example embodiments, as illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings in which like reference characters refer to the same partsthroughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily toscale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of two mobile devices utilizing a preferredembodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a fixed broadcast device and a mobiledevice.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of the operation of an application on themobile devices.

FIG. 4 is a message sequence chart showing the Bluetooth discoveryprocess using in one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a message sequence chart showing the Bluetooth Remote NameRequest Process.

FIG. 6 is a message sequence chart showing the IBSS beacon process.

FIG. 7 is a message sequence chart showing the interaction between theserver and two devices performing a detection and entering a chatapplication.

FIG. 8A is a message sequence chart showing an E-commerce example.

FIG. 8B is a continued example message sequence chart showing anE-commerce example.

FIG. 9 is a message sequence chart showing an example of a mobile deviceand a fixed broadcast device interaction.

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram for the server processing associated with thedetection process.

FIG. 11 is an example individual account record stored in the serverassociated with an Entity.

FIG. 12 illustrates a timing reference for intermittent active anddormant times.

FIG. 13 shows a diagram of functional blocks associated with managementof dynamically assigned device identifiers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A description of example embodiments follows.

The teachings of all patents, published applications and referencescited herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of two mobile devices utilizing a preferredembodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1, a central server 100 is connected to devices 106and 108 by an internet protocol (IP) based network, carried over aseries of connections, at least one of which is a wireless connection.For example, the server 100 has a connection allowing IP basedcommunications to a cellular network 102 using connection 101. Thecellular network is connected to devices 106 and 108 by wide areawireless links 104 and 103 respectively, allowing for IP basedcommunications between the devices (106 and 108) and the server 100.

Devices 106, 108 can be considered “client(s)” of the server 100. Theclients 106, 108 and server 100 provide processing, storage, andinput/output devices for executing wireless system protocols,interfaces, and application level programs according to severalembodiments. Client devices 106, 108 can also be linked through variouscommunications networks to other computing devices, including otherclient devices/processes and other server computer(s). Communicationsnetwork(s) providing the connection 101 can typically be part of aremote access network, a global network (e.g., the Internet), aworldwide collection of computers, Local area or Wide area networks, andgateways that currently use respective protocols (TCP/IP, 3G Wireless,Bluetooth, etc.). Other electronic device/computer network architecturesare suitable.

The internal structure of devices 106, 108 or server 100 includes one ormore data processors (not shown in detail) that are well known in theart to include a system bus for data transfer among the other internalcomponents of a computer system (e.g., processor, disk storage, memory,input/output ports, network ports, etc.). Attached to the bus are otherinput/output devices (e.g., keyboard, mouse, displays, printers,speakers, network interfaces, etc.). Network interfaces allow thecomputer to connect to various other devices attached to a network.Memory provides volatile storage for computer software instructions anddata used to implement an embodiment (e.g., applications programs andthe like). Disk storage can provide non-volatile storage for computersoftware instructions and data used to implement the embodiments.

One embodiment may include a computer program product including acomputer readable medium (e.g., a removable storage medium such as oneor more DVD-ROM's, CD-ROM's, diskettes, tapes, etc.) that provides atleast a portion of the software instructions for the system. Computerprogram product can be installed by any suitable software installationprocedure, as is well known in the art. In another embodiment, at leasta portion of the software instructions may also be downloaded over acable, communication and/or wireless connection. In other embodiments,the programs are a computer program propagated signal product 107embodied on a propagated signal on a propagation medium (e.g., a radiowave, an infrared wave, a laser wave, a sound wave, or an electricalwave propagated over a global network such as the Internet, or othernetwork(s)). Such carrier medium or signals provide at least a portionof the software instructions.

More particularly, a given device 106, 108 uses a short range wirelesslink 107 such as a Bluetooth (IEEE802.15.1) or Wi-Fi (IEEE802.11) linkto detect the presence of other devices such as device 108, and uses thewide area wireless network connections 103, 104 such as IS-2000, WCDMA,GPRS, EDGE, LTE, Wi-Max (IEEE802.16), or the like to performcommunications to central server 100, and to perform the actualsubstantive communications between the wireless devices 106 and 108.Device 108 typically uses the short range wireless link 107 and widearea wireless link 103 in a similar manner to locate and initiatecommunicate with device 106. One distinction relative to prior art isthat the short range wireless 107 is only used for the detectionprocess, or to advertise a device's presence. In this embodiment,specific information called “wireless identifier” or simply “identify”(described in more detail below) is passed between devices 106 and 108over the short range link 107. By transmitting a wireless identifierusing the short range Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or other short range wirelesslink 107 and receiving wireless identifiers from other devices, thisshort range wireless link 107 will allow for a proximity detectionprocess.

The support for IP based networking is standard for WWAN or 3Gconnections such as 1×EV-DO or HSPA, and as a result, communicationbetween one device to another using the WWAN is currently supported inmany devices with no modification. The use of simple detection of one ormore identifiers requires significantly less resources in a phone thanperforming a complete peer to peer based communication network protocol,which accommodates dynamic configuration of nodes being added anddropped continuously. It is noted that the IP address on the WWANinterface is not location dependent in the present embodiment, but isaddressing approaches are location dependent when true Peer to Peertopologies are used. The present embodiment has the advantage thatcommunication between two devices may continue after the devices haveleft proximity of each other, but in the same manner as they had beencommunicating previously. As a result, a user who detects a short rangetransmission of an identifier, then begins a conversation or some otherinteraction with that device via the wireless wide area network maycontinue that conversation even in the case where the two devices moveout of the proximity of the each other, and are no longer within thereception range of the short range wireless communication protocol.Further, since it is contemplated that the wireless identifierstransmitted on the short range wireless link from the devices wouldoccasionally change, for security reasons, the present embodiment hasthe advantage that ongoing communications between mobile devices willnot be interrupted despite a change in one of the device's identifier.In the case where the identifier is a MAC address of the short rangewireless network adapter for one of the devices, it is not otherwisepossible to change this address and easily maintain on goingcommunications in a true peer to peer topology.

Referring to FIG. 2, central server 100 is connected to the cellularnetwork 101, and is able to communicate information to and from wirelessdevice 202 using a wide area wireless link such as IS-2000, WCDMA, GPRS,EDGE, LTE, Wi-Max (IEEE802.16), or the like within structure 205. Device204 does not have a wide area wireless or cellular link, but transmitsidentifying information using short range wireless link 203. Device 202is capable of receiving the identifying information and requestinginformation related to that device from server 100.

An example of an application using this infrastructure follows. Thedevice 204 will simply broadcast an identifier, with no WWAN connectionbut may facilitate advertising or local information. For instance, anaccount associated with one or more identifiers may belong to a museum.As a museum patron walks to an exhibit, the patron's device 202 willreceive an identifier sent from museum broadcast device 204 operated bythe museum. The patron device 202 passes the identifier or museum device204 to the central server 100, which in-turn recognizes it as beingassociated with that exhibit within that museum and passes relevantinformation back to the user's device 202. A distinguishing feature ofthis approach relative to prior art is that the patron device 202 inthis example may move out of proximity of broadcast device 204, yetcontinue to view the content being provided by the server 100 related tothe detected broadcast device 204. Content may include text, pictures,web pages, application software such as games, informative displayapplications, or other content such as audio or video to be offered tothe user's device as well. Other examples might include electroniccoupons (such as in a grocery store), menus or special offers in arestaurant.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram with further detail of this operation. Adevice 106, 108, or 202 after performing a search (FIG. 3, step 301) foridentifiers on the WPAN or WLAN, will subsequently use the WWAN link tocommunicate with the central server 100. If the device does not findidentifiers 302 it will either continue to search, or search at a latertime 301. If identifiers are found in 302, the device may employ anaction function 303, which would act as a filter that determines whichof the detected identifiers should be passed to the server. Thisfunction may instead be omitted and all identifiers passed to the server100. The idealized effect of the action function would be to reduce thenumber of requests to the server by not re-requesting recently requestedidentifiers which have already been passed to the server, for someperiod of time. In step 304, if no identifiers require serverinformation, searching is continued in step 301.

Assuming there are identifiers which are new to the device, the devicewill pass along a list of currently detected identifiers and request 305that the server return information related to any other local device.The server will return the information related to any identifier thatmeets certain policy requirements. For instance, information is returnedwhich is 1) relevant to that device, and 2) that the device isauthorized to receive.

As an example of the overall process, a detected identifier may berelevant to the receiving device if the user associated with thedetected identifier is listed in a “friends list” for the owner of thereceiving device. If the identifiers for the individuals within thefriends list have been passed to the device, the action function 303 maymake this determination. In the preferred embodiment, the server woulddetermine the identity and the relevance of the detected identifiers,and the action function 303 would work to reduce frequency ofre-requests to the server. FIG. 7 describes an example of how to usethis for messaging associated with the device and server interactionduring the detection and identifier inquiry process, with a moredetailed explanation to follow.

To enable server 100 to associate an identifier with an entity, eachdevice or entity (such as the museum) associated with an identifier hasan account on server 100 or a related server as is common in informationtechnology. The account is associated with the entity and the device andthe current identifier.

As used herein, an “entity” may be a legal entity, such as an individualperson or a business.

An “object” is intended to include a physical thing, such as a productthat is being offered for sale, and may include a tangible article orintangible such as an electronic music or video file or photograph.

There is various information associated with each account. An exampledata record for an account is shown in FIG. 11. When the account isassociated with an individual or (other entity), there may be personalinformation such as the individual's name, contact information,information regarding allowed communication, such as chat or IM, linksto their other social networking services, and the like. When theaccount is associated with a broadcast device 204 the account maycontain content to be displayed to the detecting device 202. Byutilizing the central server 100, broadcast devices may be tied to alocation or product thereby providing relevant information about thelocation such as in the museum tour example previously discussed. Inthis situation, the content delivered to device 202 may be informativeinformation about an exhibit including pictures, text, audio, or videoand the like. In the case of a broadcast device being in a supermarketand near a specific product, advertisement or discounts with electroniccoupons my be stored in the account and provided to device 202.

There can also be policy based permissions associated with each accountand applied to any information associated with that account. The storedpolicy permissions can be used to determine what information and underwhich situations information may be disclosed to another device or userassociated with another account. For example, the entity (person in thiscase) associated with device 202 may have set a policy in their accountto not receive any unsolicited information from a broadcast device so asto not be disturbed. However, the person associated with 202 may see thebroadcast device and a sign stating a discount is available, and provideinput to their device to request any broadcast information on a one timeexception basis. The messaging associated with an example mobile andbroadcast device process will be described in more detail to followassociated with FIG. 9.

As already mentioned above, in step 301 of FIG. 3, each device performsa search function looking for identifiers sent from other devicesutilizing a short range wireless capability. The following describes theprocess of devices detecting identifiers from other devices in moredetail.

The identifiers themselves may be a hardware address such as the MACaddress of the wireless device, or they may be another label such as theSSID for a IEEE802.11 device, or the device name for a Bluetooth device.Referring to FIG. 4, in the case where a Bluetooth wireless personalarea network device is utilized, a first device 401 transmits an inquiry(ID Packet) message 404, and any proximal Bluetooth devices 402, 403respond with messages identifying the MAC address, called BD_ADDR inIEEE802.15.1 of each device using a message referred to as an “InquiryResponse” FHS message 405 containing the BD_ADDR or Bluetooth deviceaddress of the detected device. In the Bluetooth standard all devices402, 403 are required to respond in this manner assuming they areenabled to be discoverable. To enable this, an application on the mobiledevice ensures the Bluetooth device is set to discoverable mode. Device1 (401) will attempt to locate Devices on different channels by scanningthe channels and transmitting multiple Inquiry (ID Packet) messages.Such an example is shown with inquiry exchange 406 and 407 to discoverDevice N (403).

In one embodiment the BD_ADDR or MAC address of the Bluetooth device canbe used as the Identifier and no further Bluetooth interaction isrequired until the next scan process is performed.

In another embodiment, the Bluetooth “Device Name” is used as theidentifier. FIG. 5 shows the process of a first device “Device 1” (501)determining another Bluetooth enabled device's (502) Bluetooth DeviceName. Following the device discovery process completion from FIG. 4,Device 1 501 sends a Page message 503 to another device (Device L 502).Message 504 is sent in response to create a temporary AsynchronousConnectionless Link (ACL) to be established between Device 1 501 andDevice L 502, without an explicit connection request. Not having anexplicit connection request indications the Entity associated withDevice L would not have to provide explicit approval for a connectionfrom their user input on the device, as would be the case if otherservices were requested from the device such as might be the case with awireless headset or remotely connected GPS receiver to a phone. An ACLconnection allows link management packets to be exchanged, and followinginterchanges of messages 505 and 506 to determine features of thedevices, a temporary connection is established between the two devices.A name request message (507) is then sent by Device 1 to Device L, andDevice L responds with at least one LMS_name_res message 508 containingthe Bluetooth device name of Device L 502. If the name is longer thanthat allowed within the LMS_name_res message, additional messages followto allow for the entire name to be delivered. Finally the connection isended with message 509, LMP detach.

The transmitted identifiers associated with any given device are onlyknown to the central server and the device transmitting the identifiers.These identifiers may change from time to time, making a user's or adevice's identity anonymous over time. The central server and anyparticular device must be coordinated such that the identifier and anydevice transmitting it, remains identifiable by the central server. Thisprocess is coordinated between the wireless device, and the centralserver utilizing the WWAN or cellular data link, carrying messagingbetween them and using an identifier manager 1303 to maintain a list ofdevice identifiers 1302 in a central but secure location. This is shownin more detail in FIG. 13.

Referring to FIG. 6, an example of using on IEEE802.11 link as the shortrange wireless capability is discussed. Generally, Wi-Fi devicesoperation in a so-called infrastructure mode which utilizes a BSS orbasic service set. One component of a infrastructure network basedwireless LAN is the use of a central access point or AP. In a mobilenetwork the use of a central AP is not practical, as only the APtransmits an identifier, which does not meet the requirements of thepreferred embodiment. The second topology for Wi-Fi networks is theso-called Ad-Hoc mode of operations, referred to as an independent basicservice set or IBSS. In an IBSS all devices participating or advertisingtheir interest in participating in an ad-hoc network transmitidentifiers called beacons. These beacons contain the MAC address of thetransmitting network adapter, the basic service set identifier (BSSID),and ad-hoc network name or service set identity (SSID). The BSSID in atypical ad-hoc network is generated by the first station to enter theBSSID and is locally administered, typically a randomly generated 48 bitnumber matching the format of a MAC address. In an ad-hoc network, eachdevice 601, 602, 603 participating or desiring to participate transmitsa beacon. There are several embodiments related using the IBSS beaconsand the identifiers. First the identifier may be used as the MAC addressof the station device or network adapter, and one or both the BSSID andthe SSID may be used to indicate these particular beacons are associatedwith a service. In other embodiments, one or more of the BSSID and theSSID may be used as the identifier. In any of the embodiments fordelivery of the identifier in an IBSS beacon, it is possible tocoordinate the change of those identifiers with the server 100. As theMAC address is always broadcast in any operation of a Bluetooth or Wi-FIlink, the use of a MAC address as an identifier provides for anadditional level of security for the device 601, 602, 603, whenidentifier is changed from time to time as devices may be detected andidentities tracked using a constant MAC address. In the preferredembodiment, where the MAC address is used for the identifier, all thedevices participating would likely have the same network name and SSIDto aid in the identification of the device as being enabled, althoughnot necessarily required. Examples using an 802.11 network in ad-hocmode transmitting beacons are showed as messages 604, 605, and 606.

Chat Example Between Two Mobile Devices

FIG. 7 shows an example of a message flow diagram for an embodimentwhere an individual is in a library for example, and a friend arrives.The individual is notified by their device receiving an identifier thattheir friend is present and they enter a chat session. Each person has adevice (FIGS. 1, 106 and 108 respectively) that implements the preferredembodiments described above. The first individual associated with Device1 (702) referred to as Entity 1 (EI1) performs a detection process asdescribed in FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 previously (step 704). The deviceidentifier associated with Device 2 (703), DI2 is thereby detected.Device 1 (702) then transmits an inquiry message 705 using the WWAN(cellular data link such as GPRS, EDGE, 1×EV-DO, IS-2000, Wi-Max, LTE,or the like) to the server 701 inquiring if information related to theaccount and entity associated with DI2 is relevant, and available to theentity EI1 associated with Device 1 (702). The server 701 retrieves theaccount information related to EI1 and determines that EI2 is listed ina friends list in the account associated with EI1 and that EI1 should benotified when EI2 is detected. Next the server retrieves the accountinformation associated with EI2 and determines that EI1 is on a list ofentities which are allowed to be notified of EI2 being present andpersonal information such a the name of the individual, their phonenumber and the like. The server having determined that EI1 wants to benotified and is allowed to be notified responds in Step 706 to Device 1(702) with a message indicating the DI2 is relevant to EI1 and includinginformation such as Entity Identifier EI2 and associated details. A userapplication on Device 1 (702) notifies the user that the entityassociated with Device 2 is in proximity in step 707. The user of Device1 provides input to the device directing it to request a chat sessionwith the entity associated with Device 2 (703), and a message 708 issent the server 701 commanding “send ‘Hello’ to EI2”. The serveracknowledges reception of the message with a “ACK” message 709, inreturn. Next server 701 sends “Request Chat: ‘Hello’ from EI1” to Device2 703. The user of Device 2 accepts the chat and returns a message “I'mby the front door” with message 711, sending it to the server to berelayed to device 1 (702).

E-Commerce Between Two Mobile Devices

FIGS. 8A and 8B show a message flow diagram for an embodiment where twoindividuals are performing a financial transaction on the street (forexample, a customer and a street vendor). Each has a device (FIGS. 1,106 and 108 respectively) enabled with the preferred embodimentsdescribed above. In this example, an individual's device would see avendor and the vendor's device (enabled with various embodiments) wouldnotify them that the vendor was also enabled with a device supportingthe identifier search and other protocols described above, as well asbeing capable of electronic payments. These steps are performed in thefollowing way. In step 804 the customer's device 802 (Device 1) performsan identifier search process as previously described, and detects adevice identifier 2 (DI2) sent from Device 2 (803) belonging to themerchant. Device 1 will send a message to the server 801 (alsorepresented by 100 in FIG. 1) using the WWAN (cellular data link such asGPRS, EDGE, 1×EV-DO, IS-2000, Wi-Max, LTE, or the like) 104 requestinginformation related to DI2 and its relevance to the entity related todevice 1 802. The server 801 then determines the relevance of DI2 basedon the account properties stored in the account associated with theconsumer Device 1. In this case, the account settings only allowmessages from or notifications of entities on a friends list stored inthe account record (represented in FIG. 10) associated with theconsumer. Server 801 responds to device 802 with “no” indicating thatDI2 is not relevant to the Consumer.

The customer, having an account enabled with electronic payments, andwanting an item the vendor has, would press a button or make other inputto his phone (or other device) which would indicate they would like tomake a purchase and pay using their device (808). In this case the inputselection would be “search for merchants.” The customer's device wouldthen send a message (809) to the central server directing the server toperform a one time search for merchants, despite the current accountsettings. In one embodiment, the server would then direct the consumer'sdevice 802 to initiate another search (809). Other embodiments may notinclude the server commanding Device 1 (802) to perform the search, butrather the search may be performed automatically, or use results from arecent search. In Step 811, Device 1 (802) performs another search anddetects the identifier from Device 2 (803), DI2. Device 1 then sends amessage 812 to the server again requesting information for all relevantdevices detected, which will include at least DI2. In Step 813 theserver, having received the request and list including DI2, looks upaccount information associated with DI2 and determines that theassociated entity is a merchant. As the settings of the accountassociated Device 1 now allow for the notification of the user when amerchant is detected in proximity, DI2 is determined to be relevant toDevice 1 and the Entity 1 (EI1) should be notified. The server thensends a message 814 to Device 1 (802) stating merchant services areavailable in proximity with a list of available merchant's informationincluding information related to the entity (EI2). The user of device 1,Entity 1 (EI1) then provides input in step 815, (pressing a soft key ona touch screen for instance), selecting the specific merchant EI2 toengage with in a transaction. Device 1 (802) will then send a message(816) to the server requesting a transaction with EI2 associated withDevice 2 (803). The server (801) will then respond in this embodimentwith a message 817 to Device 1 confirming receipt of the requestedtransaction and providing information to allow the EI1 associated withDevice 1 to independently confirm the identity of EI2 associated withDevice 2 (803). In this embodiment the identifying information caninclude the name of the merchant, the merchant's logo, a picture of thevendor, or their mobile shopping cart. In other embodiments, the picturemay be of a specific unattended vending machine in the location it iscurrently operating. It may also include other information such as theaddress of the merchant in cases where a fixed store location isprovided. As this particular merchant in this example is a streetvendor, an address may not be used. GPS information stored in theaccount associated with Device 2 may be used as further confirmation insome instances. However, in this example, GPS coordinates are not beavailable on Device 2 due to lack of capability, or Device 2 beingindoors and without sufficient signal to determine a location. FurtherGPS information from Device 1 (802) may be used to provide furtherconfirmation information. In this embodiment the photograph sent inmessage 817 shows a picture of the particular merchant and also his cityissued business license in text and as a picture of where it isdisplayed on the cart. The consumer entity EI1 provides input to Device1 in step 818 confirming the identity of EI2, the merchant entityassociated with Device 2 (803). Device 1 then sends a message 819 to theserver 801 confirming the identity of the merchant.

Server 801 then sends a message 820 to the merchant's device 803notifying them of the request for a transaction with EI1. Device 2 (803)then indicates to the merchant that a customer with the capability anddesire to pay electronically is in proximity. In step 821 the customerassociated with Device 1 (802) places an order with the merchantassociated with Device 2 (803) and a list of products to be purchased isgenerated and the merchant provides input to Device 2 (803) to proceedwith a electronic transaction. In step 822 Device 2 performs a scan ofidentifiers and DI1 associated with device 1 (802) and the Consumer isdetected. A request is sent to the server 801 with a list of identifierswhich were detected to determine if any of them are relevant to themerchant. Note that while the merchant device 803, (and the merchant)have now been notified of the desire for EI1 to enter a transaction,they do not necessarily know the identifier for EI1 yet. In otherembodiments, the identifier associated with EI1 and Device 1 (802) maybe sent in message 819, and a confirmation that this identifier isdetected during the scan process 821 may be performed at the device. Inthe preferred embodiment, further security may be provided by the havingthe server perform this function independently. The server performs thisconfirmation in step 824 may matching the device 1 identifier DI1 withthe information stored in the account associated with Entity 1 (EI1)also referred to as the Consumer.

The server than generates a message 825 to Device 2 (803) indicatingthat EI1 is relevant, and the transaction participant is present. Themessage in the preferred embodiment can also include a picture of theConsumer. Additionally, the message could also include other pictures ofother individuals allowed to use this device for purchases. If more thanone identifier was detected in step 822 and matched in step 824 toentities having requested transactions previously which are pending forthat merchant, a list of information for each entity involved with apending transaction request can be provided in message 825. The merchantthen selects the correct consumer using the picture of that consumer,confirming the identity of the part to the transaction in step 826. Theconsumer information provided in message 825 in another embodiment maysimply be the name of the customer and the merchant may either ask theirname, or request identification such as a driver's license. In thepreferred embodiment, where a picture is passed in message 825, it isnot necessary that the individual's name be passed to the merchant forthe merchant to be able to provide confirmation of the identity of theConsumer thus providing a level of anonymity to the transaction such asmay be present when cash is used.

Following the confirmation by the merchant of the identity of theConsumer participating in the current transaction in step 826, Device 2sends a message 827 to the server confirming the identity of theConsumer as Entity 1 (E1), and with information required for thetransaction including the list of products to be purchased, theirprices, the total price, and a request to charge E1 this total amount.Server 801 then confirms receipt of this message in step 828. The serverthen sends a message 829 to Device 1 requesting the Consumer to confirmthe list of goods to be purchased and the total price to be paid. Instep 830, the Consumer (Entity 1) reviews the list and amount to be paidand provides input to device 1 confirming the accuracy of theinformation and they the authorizing the server to pay. In step 832 theserver charges E1 utilizing stored preferred charge card information,stored credit, or other payment method such as a PalPal™ user name(PayPal is a trademark of Ebay, Inc.) and password stored in the accountassociated with E1, and charges the consumer. In the case where a storedcredit is used, the Consumer's account can be debited, and the creditsnot applied to the merchants account until a later step. In the case ofa credit card, or PalPal™ transaction, the server provides payment to E2(the merchant) utilizing information stored in the account associatedwith Device 2. The server then indicates payment is made to themerchant, and instructing the merchant to deliver the goods with message833. E2 (the Merchant) then provides the goods and provides input toDevice 2 that the goods have been delivered in step 834. Message 835 isgenerated by Device 2 (803) to the server confirming product delivery,and acknowledging the receipt of the payment confirmation message 833.The server can then send message 836 requesting the Consumer to confirmthey received the goods. If a confirmation is not received in responseto this request, this information may later be used to settle anydispute that might arise. In step 837 the consumer confirms receipt ofthe products, and message 838 is generated to the server confirming thereceipt of goods by the consumer. In Step 839 the server concludes thetransaction by completing any steps required to credit the Merchant withthe payment amount from the Consumer, if required. The server then sendsa message 840 to the Merchant indication the transaction is complete,which is acknowledges in message 841. The Consumer is notified of thecompleted transaction with message 842, which is acknowledged withmessage 843.

Finally, the transaction details may be stored by the server, or sent toa thirdly party server for tracking spending habits of that accountholder, or customers of that merchant allowing the merchant to trackthat specific customer's behavior and cater to them in the future withvarious specials delivered via email, or during their next visit viatheir device in the form of an electronic coupon. This process can beperformed with a goal to help the merchant expose the customer to otherproducts or services the merchant believes the customer might finddesirable.

The apparatus, systems and methods can be extended to facilitate othertypes of transactions as well. In one specific application, consider useof the invention to facilitate a transaction such as the rental of anautomobile. A well known business called ZipCar™, presently operating inseveral major urban areas in the United States, makes available a fleetof vehicles for shared use by their club members who pay a monthly feeplus a per use charge. Using the embodiments herein, the club memberwould have a wireless device that serves as the “Consumer device”(Device 1) and the ZipCar vehicle would be equipped with a wirelessdevice serving as the “Merchant” device (Device 2). The consumer wouldwalk up to an available ZipCar vehicle and, using their wireless device,start an initial exchange of identifiers with the desired Merchantdevice, for example, using the short range local wireless network. TheConsumer device and/or Merchant device would send a message to anapplication running on the Server requesting that a person associatedwith an account for the Consumer be granted access to a specific vehicle(e.g., an “object”) that is in the vicinity of and associated with theMerchant device. A set of confirmatory messages (such as to exchangeaccess codes, to confirm the location of the vehicle, the per-use feedue, and payment for the same, etc.), are then typically also exchangedbetween the Consumer and the Merchant device with the assistance of theServer and the long range wireless network. Upon confirmation of thenecessary transaction information, the Server sends a message to theMerchant device to unlock the vehicle requested (which may be sent overthe second long range wireless network or a yet another network, such asa satellite network).

Example of a Mobile Device and a Broadcast Device.

FIG. 9 shows a message flow diagram for an embodiment where anindividual is in the presence of a broadcast device, such as for themuseum example of FIG. 2. As with FIG. 2, the individual device 202 andthe broadcast device 204 are present and enabled. In this example, anindividual 902 is in a grocery store and their device 902 (Device 1)performs a scan for identifiers in step 904, as described previously.DI2 is detected having been transmitted from device 2 (903). Device 1(902) sends a message to server 901 inquiring if DI2 is relevant to theentity associated with Device 1 and if the information associated withthat device identifier (DI2) is available to be returned. In step 906,the server retrieves the accounts associated with both DI2 and Device 1(EI1). The server detects that the entity associated with DI2 is anadvertisement company, and that this device is a broadcast device only,and that there is an electronic coupon available for download to Device1, and multimedia content available to be played if desired.Additionally, the account settings associated with EI1 allow for thenotification of broadcast devices in proximity.

Server 901 then transmits a Response message 907 indicated the presenceof the detected device and the content available. The device 902requests input from the entity associated with the device 901 forpermission to download the coupon, and the availability to play contentsuch as video about how to prepare a recipe using the vendors product.In this case the individual associated with Device 1 accepts thecontent, and a message 909 is sent to the server accepting the content.Response message 910 begins the delivery of the content.

As previously mentioned, several key distinctions of this embodimentinclude that the user of device 902 may walk away out of range form thebroadcast device 903 and continue to receive the content using theircellular link, or may choose to play the content at a later time havingstored the detected like in a favorites list. Additionally, the contentstored in the account associated with the broadcast device 2 (903) isrelevant to the placement of the device and the products near it.Further, as the content is stored in the server 901 rather than in thebroadcast device 903, the content may be updated, modified, or deletedat anytime. For example the server 901 knowing that the consumer hasnever been detected previously, may customize the electronic coupon toprovide a deeper discount than a regularly detected consumer. In thecase where the devices are used for electronic commerce as in FIG. 8,knowledge of the user's past purchases may be used to induce theconsumer to try a new product. Alternatively if the consumer is aregular purchaser a loyalty program may provide a coupon upon aparticular number of repeated purchases.

FIG. 10 is a processing flow chart performed by the server receiving arequest from a device inquiring about the relevant and availability ofinformation associated with detected device identifiers. In step 1001the server is waiting for a request from a device. When a request isreceived in decision 1002, step 1003 is performed. In this step theaccount information associated with the requesting device is retrieved.In step 1004 the information associated with the accounts for each ofthe detected device identifiers is retrieved. In step 1005 the serverperforms a matching process between the policies of the requestingaccount and each of the policies for each account associated with eachdetected device identifier. In step 1006 the information related to thematched policies for the associated entities will be sent to therequesting mobile device.

Just as in the previous example of an identifier being deemed relevantto a user based on a friends list, permission for disclosing a device'spresence may require being on a friends list as well. For example, whena server receives an inquiry from a device with a list of identifiers,it may only respond with information for users associated with theidentifiers that are on that device's friends list, and on each of theindividual's friend lists as well. These friends' lists and policies canbe stored within a user account which allows for disclosure of a user'spresence only to individuals on this list, such as described in FIG. 11(to be described below.)

It is contemplated that the permissions not be an “all or nothing”decision, but that different classes of information may be assigneddifferent permissions and mechanisms. An example of this might be auser's presence, identity, and cart services being made available toonly one set of other accounts (or users), while the presence of ananonymous individual being made available to anyone, but with otherclasses services available such as multi-player games being treateddifferently. Additionally multiple contacts may be included in theaccount, each given customized permissions. An example can be that anyuser may be notified of an anonymous user or other information based onadditional policies.

As only the server contains personal information, and performs theassociation of an account with a particular identifier, it caninherently enforce the security of the policies as a distinct advantagerelative to true peer to peer services. In this way, the central servercontrols the process of passing information related to an account to aparticular requesting device.

FIG. 11 shows an example account record to be associated with an entityand at least one device. The columns of the account record can consistof a Record Index which will be used to described the account, a Fieldwhich is a descriptive name for the contents stored in the record, and aField Information Group Disclosure Policy Assignment List (PAL). The PALprovides rules for the disclosure of the information in the associatedrow in the Field column. The following list are possible PAL entries:

ALL: may be disclosed to any requesting entity

EXPLICIT APPROVAL: the Entity associated with the account must provideinput approving the disclosure of the information

NONE: Do not disclose this information to any other entity

M: where M is a integer from 1 to N indicating a Information GroupDisclosure Policy which may consist of a list of contacts, friends,groups, characteristics, and the like.

Most of the fields in FIG. 11 are self explanatory and typical in theindustry such as the account number, however a few fields are worth aclarifying discussion. The Device identifier is in record index 2, witha Identifier type in record 4. The identifier type can define what typeof identifier the device associated with this account would use. Recordindex 10 is the Entity Type Field. This describes is the entity is aMerchant, Individual, or if the device associated with this account is abroadcast only device.

Referring now to FIG. 12 a timing map reference for scanning times anddormant times for devices is shown. In one embodiment, it is desiredthat the power consumption and scan timing for the devices in a cellularnetwork be reduced. Since the server and the WWAN is involved with allmobile devices, coordination of the broadcasting periods and thesearching periods for the short range radios is possible. This can bebased on a common reference time such as that provided by most cellularsystems, any the time of day clocks inherently within mobile devices.This allows for reduced power consumption and other resource consumptionin the devices. If no coordination is achieved, then the short rangereceivers in each device must be scanning for transmitted identifiersmuch more often and for longer durations. Utilizing a common timingbase, and the central server to notify the devices of a coordinationapproach for “active times” and “non-active times” and will allow forthe devices to minimize the power consumption in the transmission of andscanning for identifiers. This approach also allows for synchronizingthe update of each device's identifier (as described previously) toenhance anonymity and security, coordinated with the central server. The“non-active times” may be used as “boundaries” over which the changingidentifiers may be updated. This update may be based on either directcommunication with the server, or rule and algorithm based updatespreviously coordinated with the central server so as to minimize servermessaging, but allowing the updates to remain synchronized to the serversuch that the device and the server are always associating the sameidentifier between them.

As will be recognized by an individual skilled in the area ofinformation technology, the concept of a central server may well beimplemented as a collection of servers to allow for load balancing,redundancy, and the like in a manor common to the information technologyindustry.

FIG. 13 shows a diagram of functional blocks associated with themanagement of dynamically assigned device identifiers. The Server 1301has an application agent called an Identifier Manager (1303) which hasaccess to a pool of device identifiers (1302). The Identifier Managermonitors timing information and determines when it is time to update aparticular device's identifier. This time may be a regular interval, ora random generated time period by an algorithm such as a pseudo-randomsequence generator, or a combination of both. When it is time to updatea device identifier, Manager 1303 retrieves a new identifier form thepool 1302. The pool of identifiers may be a list or range ofidentifiers, or generated algorithmically. The new identifier is storedin the account associated with the entity determined to require updatingand a message sent to the device 1305 associated with that accountcommanding it to update its device identifier with the new one. Thismessage is sent over the WWAN Data network 1304 such as IS-2000, HSPA,GPRS, IS-95, Edge, Wi-Max, and the like. All devices 1305 to 1307 willeventually all be updated in a similar manner. This update process doesnot disrupt ongoing communication and interaction between devicesdespite the update as the communications are preformed based on theidentity of the entities following the detection of the deviceidentifiers which are no longer utilized. This unique capability allowsfor the updating process to be implemented and not impact theapplications being utilized concurrently.

Other example applications utilizing still other embodiments followbelow.

Requiring the brokering of the communication via a central server canalso allow a mobile device to receive information associated with a“broadcast only” device, such as in the museum example discussedpreviously. This is important, as such broadcast devices can enable avast set of new applications built upon the infrastructure developed inthis application, beyond the museum application. Some of theseapplications may involve an electronic commerce aspect, for example.

Electronic Commerce Applications

Ecommerce Between a Fixed Broadcast Device and a Mobile Device

Football Stadium Example

An embodiment of a transaction model, enabled by the infrastructuredescribed above can be an event such as a concert, or sporting event(particularly when it is an indoor venue where no GPS is available). Anumber of the broadcast only devices are placed through out the seatingareas. The devices are very short range, and only transmitintermittently and as a result may be battery powered and to remainactive over a very long time period. Each device can be placed in aknown location, in a predicable manner.

An attendee at the event has his or her device enabled with theidentifier protocol and other embodiments described above. The devicedetects a broadcast device, and interacts over the internet with theserver via the WWAN connection (as already described above). The serverreceives an indication of the broadcast device's identifier and theidentifier of the account associated with the device which detected thebroadcast device. The server retrieves content associated with theservice provider's account and provide that content to the applicationon the requesting mobile device. The content may indicate that the venuehas a product delivery service. The user may then press an indication ontheir device that they would like to see a menu or list of items forsale from the merchant(s) in the venue. The application on the user'sdevice would then allow them to see a menu, for instance, and selectitems to purchase. The user then would be asked to confirm the purchase.The server would then indicate to the merchant that a user located neara specific broadcast device has ordered something. In this case, it isexpected that a delivery fee could also be charged for the enhancedservice. The server would facilitate the purchasing of the goods orservices from the merchant and payment from customer's account, andprovide confirmation to each. Such confirmation can include anelectronic receipt provided to the customer, for user upon arrival ofthe delivery person of the good or service. The customer can then selectan indication on their device confirming receipt of the good or servicevia the mobile device, thereby completing the transfer of funds and thetransition. Optionally, the delivery person of the good or service mayhave an enabled mobile device as well. In this case the identifiers maybe detected by the customer's device and reported to the server toconfirm that the provider's delivery person was present. Further, thedelivery person's device can be able to detect the broadcast device'sidentifier and reported to the server confirming the delivery person wasin the correct area independently. Even further proximity confirmationmay be achieved by the customer's device's transmitted identifier beingdetected by the delivery person's device and reported to the centralserver further confirming the physical proximity of the parties involvedin the transaction. Upon arrival of the delivery person, the customermay be notified that the delivery person is looking for them, and hasarrived. These cross confirmations can allow for the central serverevidence to justify payments both in completed transactions and indisputed or failed transactions. Further, the delivery person mayreceive a picture of the requesting customer assisting to identify thecustomer to whom the food is to be delivered. Once the customer isfound, the delivery person can confirm the delivery of the good orservice to the customer via the user input on their mobile device, andthat confirmation being reported to the central server. The customer canhave the option to report confirmation or denial of the reception of theproduct or service as well, as in the last example.

In another embodiment, the merchant device may be fixed, but have aninternet connection (wireless or otherwise). Further, in someembodiments, the merchant may be an automated device such as a vendingmachine. In such a model, a customer may use their enabled cell phone topurchase an item such as a beverage from the machine without the need toinsert currency into the machine. This can be accomplished by thecustomer's cell phone detecting the vending machine transmission of theidentifier or visa-versa. Following the detection of either thecustomer's identifier by the vending machine, or the customer detectingthe vending machine identifier, the respective device notifies theserver, which in turn provides notification (assuming the accountsettings allow for notification) to the potential customer via theirdevice. Assuming the customer selects to purchase an item from thevending machine using their account associated with their device, thecustomer may be presented a menu as in the example above. The customermay further be presented information to ensure the identity of thevending machine, such as a description of the machine, a machineidentification number, or a (most likely) a picture of the machine whereit is located. The customer can then confirm this is the machine theyare interfacing with, and select to pay via their account. The customermay in one model select the item to dispense by input to their phone, orthey may simply select to provide payment to the machine allowing themto make the selection manually as is the typical mode of operationtoday. The vending machine can then interact with the server via its owninternet connection, and participate in the transaction in a mannersimilar to the mode described above allowing for step by stepconfirmation as previously described.

Electronic Opinion Polling, Tied to a Known Location.

In a much simpler example, such a capability might be used to tie asurvey to a known location in such a way as to provide an e-coupon tothe survey taker on their device in return for completion of the survey.Alternatively, this type of interaction can enable a very large crowd tointeract with a Jumbo-Tron like display to provide input to polls or toparticipate in group activities. Users at different locations in aaudience may form teams and interact with other teams for groupactivities.

Other Preferred Embodiments

Applications running on a device may also interact with the server toperform various functions, for example retrieving information associatedwith an entity or device, by utilizing a detected identifier. Suchinformation may include stored content associated with the entity'saccount record such as music, pictures, links to social networkingsites, instant messaging addresses, advertising content, and evenexecutable scripts or application such as in AJAX. An example of such anapplication may include the detection of a device's identifier in afixed location allowing for tour guide like information to be providedfor that location.

As the server may be running applications which perform more functionthan just the retrieval of content, a pre-defined interaction processmay also be applied by the server to the devices such as allowing theapproval to share private content with the entity associated with thedetected device. This process may eventually allow or disallow thesharing of information and to facilitate the interacting with anotherentity.

As a more complex example, in other embodiments, the devices may utilizethe server as a third party to provide for new capabilities such as asecure three way e-commerce transaction between two entities. In thismore complex process, the server may require confirmation of eachparty's identity with visual cross verification of the parties usingpictures or other unique identifiers. The server may use this visualcross verification in conjunction with detecting that the individualsare in proximity with each other. The server may verify the proximityusing GPS or using the peer to peer detection process in anotherembodiment. Further, the server may facilitate a process requiring eachparty to perform a step by step confirmation during the transactionincluding the stages of: the request for purchase, the payment, thereceipt of goods and services, and the providing of payment receipt.

This differs from the approaches employed by prior art location awaremobile social networking techniques in that no GPS is needed todetermine when one device is in proximity to another. Many wirelessdevices in use are not GPS-capable, and even when they are, GPS willoften not operate indoors or where the GPS signal is weak. Using a peerto peer detection process to locate nearby devices allows for theoperation of proximity detection indoors.

Preferred embodiments can also differ from known peer to peer basedsocial networking in that the information flow between the devicesrunning the applications are over the wide area network via a centralserver, rather than carried over the peer to peer network itself. Anexample of this is a service called Flobbi, as discussed previously,where community members can identify each other via Bluetoothtransmissions, then interact with chat. The messaging in this case iscarried over Bluetooth itself. A distinction from such peer to peerapproaches is the use of a central server to “broker” the transactionsbetween peers, enhancing the ability to manage security and informationdisclosure. Such use allows for the opportunity to customize deliveredcontent to include elements such as advertising or other contentcustomized to the recipient based on additional information such asknown personal purchasing history, or interests.

A further distinction of the preferred embodiment is the use of acentral server to determine identities of detected peer devices, whichadditionally allows for secure and fraud resistant application ofpolicies for the disclosure of information and content. An issue withthe existing pure peer to peer approaches is that they are not capableof enforcing policy associated with the disclosure of information tounknown entities in a secure and fraud resistant manor. One reason forthis is that information related to a user's device must be disclosed inthe process of detection in the form of a static identifier. By thenature of the identifier, it must be static or peers would not be ableto directly determine the identity of a friend over time with theinformation stored on their device. By using a central server, thesystem may coordinate the change of the identifiers from time to timesuch that the disclosure of an identifier by one device to another doesnot compromise the identity of the device. In this case the identifiermay be assigned from a central server and such server coordinate theidentifier's change from time to time.

Reliance on a central server also allows the secure and fraud resistantapplication of disclosure policy. Such policy might include theverification of the identity of the party to which information (identityand presence for instance) or content (pictures of the account owner) isto be provided. Such verification is performed in an anonymous way suchthat in the process of verifying information associated with each party,no personal information is disclosed between the parties prior tosatisfaction of some pre-set policy such as inclusion on a friend listor belonging to a specific group or organization. Another importantpolicy required for such services would be the determination of any pastnegative feed back ratings by other past peers for behavior for theparticular user to which the information is to be provided. Anindividual with significant poor ratings having detected a peer, may bedenied access to personal information or even notification of arrival ofthe detected peer based on the server policy setting by the detectedpeer or the server in general.

A further distinction is to enable electronic payments for individualswho are in close proximity to each other. The central server can act asa third trusted party to help facilitate the electronic transactionbetween the individuals. Secondly, the server allows for a convenient,electronically secure, personally secure and anonymous method for eachof the individuals to specify the party with which they wish to engagein a transaction. Thirdly, participants in a transaction can crossvalidate the identities of the individuals engaged in the transaction.Finally, because this method is proximity based it will also workindoors or in other situations where GPS location information is notavailable.

Feature Summary of Preferred Embodiments

-   1. In a first embodiment:

One device is transmitting a wireless identifier using a wirelessprotocol capable of peer to peer communication;

The wireless identifier being associated with a specific account on aserver connected to the internet;

A second device receiving the wireless identifier

The second device capable of communicating with the server over aninternet connection;

The second device requesting information from the service associatedwith the first identifier

The second device having a second identifier associated with a secondaccount on the server; and/or

The server providing different amounts of information related to thefirst account based on the parameters associated with one or both of thefirst and second accounts

The identifiers associated with the accounts being updated such that theidentifiers would no longer be recognized as being associated withspecific accounts without past or current interaction with the server;

Using one or more of Cellular network timing information, andinformation form the central server to coordinate the broadcast andsearch times amongst the devices. (to reduce power and resourceconsumption); and/or

Data necessary to engage in an E-commerce transaction may be exchangedas well such as the identity verification such as via a picture and/ormutual identifier detection.

-   2. In a second embodiment,

A device is capable of operating two wireless protocols simultaneously,utilizing a first wireless protocol in the device to detect theproximity of another wireless device and using the second wirelessprotocol to communicate with a remote server, where:

One or more of the devices are mobile devices;

Where the first wireless protocol is a local, or personal area networkwireless protocol such as 802.11, Bluetooth, UWB or other localconnectivity protocol;

Where the first wireless capability used for detecting the presence ofanother device, or advertising the presence or a device;

Utilizing a wireless wide area data link from one or more of thewireless devices to, optionally:

Connect to a central server;

Perform user authorization functions;

Perform download of information associated with account identifiersutilizing the short range wireless capability;

Request forwarding of messages/packets to the other active account;

Utilizing the messaging with a mobile proximity based social networkingcapability; and optionally,

The messaging being performed via the WWAN; and/or

The server providing a centrally assigned user identity, withrelationship brokering or identification capability.

-   3. In another embodiment,

A central serving capability is provided to mobile devices utilizing awireless WAN connection to provide and exchange information between oneor more application on one or more wireless devices and the centralserver where

the information passed to the central server is collected by onewireless device from another wireless device via a separate localwireless reception from the other wireless device;

the separate local wireless reception from the second wireless devicecontains information directly assigned by, derived from, or known to thecentral server associated with the identity of the second wirelessdevice;

this identity is related to certain information and preferences of anaccount holder associated with an application operating on the secondwireless device;

the application is operating on both wireless devices;

the application operating on the first device also provides its ownidentifying information to the central server as well as detectedidentifiers from devices with applications on them;

The central server contains account information registered to theapplications running on each wireless device;

The preferences associated with the account information also containpolicies related to the disclosure of one account's stored informationto other accounts and hence to their application on their devices;

These policies including a classification of other accounts eachclassification having different policies some of these policies beingone of:

no not allow notification of my presence

allow notification of my presence

disclose my name/do not disclose my name

disclose age/do not disclose age

disclose personal details;

Where an application running on each device can optionally perform pointof sale transitions coordinated via the central server, over the WWAN,utilizing user input on each device as confirmation of successive stepsin the transition;

Further, where at least one of the confirmation steps additionallyinvolves displaying an identifying picture related to one of thedevices, on the other device;

Additionally the server performing an authorization for the transitionto a third party;

Or, optionally, a device is interacting with a point of sale device toassociate an itemized list of items with a detected second device;

The service performing a confirmation with the application on the seconddevice requiring user input that the bill of goods list is correct;and/or

The server storing the information related to the second devicesdetected account identity and inventory in a database for later use

-   4. In still other embodiments, a device has a wireless capability    with no WWAN capability, but only with the ability to broadcast a    unique identifier, and

A central server stores having the broadcast device's details;

And when the first device provides these detail to the server,authorized and current information about the broadcast device areprovided to the first wireless device;

Where this information optionally includes advertising information orinformation related to “e-coupons” for special offers for products orservices; and/or

Where the content of the e-coupons might be customized based on theidentity of the requesting device or account holder;

Where the content is further customized based on other information knownby the server related to the user's account; or

Where the other information is related to the user's past purchasingpractices or previous requests; and/or

A mobile device, upon detecting a broadcast device and if enabled to doso, will report that broadcast Id to the server over a WWAN, andretrieve the current content from the server associated with that deviceand:

Display it to the user on their device; or

Execute instructions associated with the information retrieved from theserver.

-   5. In still further embodiments, a good or service delivery model    utilizing the above described broadcast device, is placed in a known    location, and further

A mobile device is for detecting the fixed device's identifier via theWPAM/WLAN;

The mobile device reporting this identifier and passing an identifierassociated with itself, or the account associated with the userutilizing the device;

The server determining that the detected broadcast device is associatedwith the broadcast device with a known location;

The server further determining that the identifier is associated with aservice, and further associated with an account or that service;

The server retrieving content associated with the service provider'saccount and providing that content to the application on the requestingmobile device;

Where that content may be a list of items for sale, services for sale, aopinion pole, food menu, or other menu style content which allows foruser selection of items, which can be implemented in java code, xml,simple text, or other for example optionally including active codeelements;

The application on the mobile device displaying the content to the userdisplay with the itemized list of goods, services, or other selectionitems;

A user providing selection of one or more of the items, and confirmingthey wish to purchase said items, and take delivery at or near thelocation of the fixed broadcast device;

The server facilitating the purchasing of the goods or services from themerchant's account and the customer's account, and providingconfirmation to each. Such confirmation including an electronic receiptprovided to the customer, for user upon arrival of the deliverer of thegood to or service;

The customer confirming receipt of the good or service via the mobiledevice, thereby completing the transfer of funds and the transition;and/or

The deliverer of the good or service optionally having a mobile deviceand optionally:

such that identifiers from that device may be detected by the customersdevice and reported to the server to confirm that the provider'sdelivery person was present;

such that the broadcast devices identifier is detected by the deliveryperson's mobile device and reported to the server confirming the deliverperson was in the correct area

such that the customer's device's transmitted identifier is detected bythe delivery persons device and reported to the central server furtherconfirming the physical proximity of the parties involved in thetransaction; and/or

The delivery person confirming the delivery of the good or service tothe customer via the user input on their mobile device, and thatconfirmation being reported to the central server.

-   6. In another embodiment, a software program is arranged to operate    at the application layer on a mobile device, which interfaces to a    device driver interface:

Using wi-fi 802.11 to perform a WLAN local connection protocol; or

Using Bluetooth to perform the WLAN local connection;

Where the device driver interface is an NDIS driver or the like;

Using 1×EVDO, HSDPA, GPRS, EDGE or the like for a wide area WWANinterface;

The application then providing the reported identifiers to a server,which will make decisions regarding a users interest in these detectedidentifiers, and policy regard privacy other identifiers;

The decision process optionally based on priority of the identifier, theclass an identifier belongs to, a list the identifier is, or is notincluded on;

Based on the result of the action function,

Sending at least one detected identifier to the network, potentiallywith additional information from the action function, and retrievinginformation back from the server related to that identifiers' accountinformation stored on that server;

The server then receiving a request from a device's application, with adetected identifier

The server examining both the requesting and the requested identifier'sidentity and making a policy decision regarding the release of therequested identifiers information related to their account;

The server in some cases providing a continuously or periodicallychanging account or device identifier to a specific application on adevice to enhance the privacy of the identity of that device;

The changing of the identifier may be effected by a rule basedgeneration local to the application, or may be downloaded from theserver directly; and/or

The update of the identifier being synchronized to such that it iscoordinated with predetermined scanning and broadcasting periodsallowing for a known update boundary;

-   7. In still another embodiment, a method uses the mobile device's    time of day derived from the network or other reference for

synchronizing a PAN/WLAN discovery and advertisement times to savebattery life;

doing the same in a synchronized way among multiple devices;

while coordinating the timing information utilizing the WWAN and acentral server available commonly to the devices, such as by

Synchronizing identifier transmission timing to save power from WWANnetwork parameters obtained for the server;

Coordinating any identifier updates to this same timing source; and/or

Using a pool of identifiers available to the central server to assignidentifiers to devices changing the identifiers at some time intervalderived for the common time reference

-   8. In another embodiment,

A central server uses an identity manager to assign identifiers todevices using a WWAN cellular data link, and wherein

identifiers are occasionally changed

identifiers are assigned from a pool of identifiers available to theservers;

identifiers are used as 48 bit media access control (MAC) addresses ofthe short range wireless network adapter

identifiers are optionally used as

-   -   an SSID in a MSS in IEEE-802.11 network beacons    -   a BSSID of the IEEE802.11 network adapter;

in a IEEE802.15.1 Inquiry Response Message as the BD_ADDR

a device name in a Bluetooth name response packet; or

listed in a services list as provided in a LMP_features_req message orLMP_features_req_ext message for a Bluetooth device

While this invention has been particularly shown and described withreferences to example embodiments thereof, it will be understood bythose skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may bemade therein without departing from the scope of the inventionencompassed by the appended claims.

1. A method comprising: receiving, by a wireless device, using a shortrange wireless protocol, a first plurality of beacon transmissionsassociated with a wireless beacon service, each beacon transmissioncomprising three fields (a) a MAC address, (b) a unique identifier,wherein the unique identifier of each respective beacon transmissiondoes not directly identify a location of a beacon transmitter, and (c) abeacon service identifier, wherein the beacon service identifier of eachrespective beacon transmission is a number; receiving, by the wirelessdevice using a second wireless protocol, stored information from one ormore servers, relating to an entity or object associated with a firstunique identifier; selecting one or more of the unique identifiers fromthe first plurality of beacon transmissions, by filtering the beacontransmissions which include a beacon service identifier indicating thata particular received beacon transmission is associated with thewireless beacon service; and taking first further action relating to thestored information, if the first unique identifier is present among theselected one or more unique identifiers.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the receiving, by the wireless device, using a short rangewireless protocol, of the first plurality of beacon transmissions occursin a first time period, and wherein the method further comprises, duringa second time period: receiving, by the wireless device, using a shortrange wireless protocol, a second plurality of beacon transmissions,each of the second plurality of beacon transmissions comprising threefields (a) a MAC address, (b) a unique identifier, wherein the uniqueidentifier of each respective beacon transmission does not directlyidentify a location of a beacon transmitter, and (c) a beacon serviceidentifier, wherein the beacon service identifier of each respectivebeacon transmission is a number; selecting one or more of the uniqueidentifiers from the second plurality of beacon transmissions, byfiltering the beacon transmissions which include the same beacon serviceidentifier indicating that a particular received beacon transmission isassociated with the same wireless beacon service; and taking secondfurther action relating to the stored information, if a second uniqueidentifier is present among the selected one or more unique identifiers,wherein the second unique identifier is associated with the same entityor object, and wherein the second unique identifier is not equal to thefirst unique identifier.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the MACaddress received in a beacon transmission including the second uniqueidentifier is different from the MAC address received in a beacontransmission including the first unique identifier, but each such beacontransmission includes the same beacon service identifier.
 4. The methodof claim 3 wherein the second further action is based upon a functioncurrently being performed on a device associated with the wirelessbeacon service.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein the function is relatedto a current phone call, music being played, a video being played, amulti-player game, or a shared application.
 6. The method of claim 2wherein the first or the second further action is related to receivingadvertising information for presentation to a user of the wirelessdevice, based upon the first or the second unique identifiers, orinformation derived from the first of second unique identifiers.
 7. Themethod of claim 2 wherein the first further action includes retrievingcontent from a server based upon information derived from either thefirst unique identifier or the second unique identifier.
 8. The methodof claim 2, wherein the first or second further action includes sendinga message to another device associated with an account related to thefirst and the second unique identifiers.
 9. The method of claim 2wherein following the performance of the first or second further action,a server associated with the an account for the user of the wirelessdevice performs a step of sending a message to an email addressassociated with the account for the user relating to the entity orobject associated with the first or second unique identifiers.
 10. Themethod of claim 2 wherein the second further action includes preventingsending of the second unique identifier or information derived from thesecond unique identifier by the wireless device to one or more servers.11. The method of claim 1 wherein the first further action comprises:determining, based upon at least a portion of the stored information,that at least one beacon transmitter is associated with a predeterminedlocation.
 12. The method of claim 2 wherein the step of taking firstfurther action further includes, by the wireless device, sending of thefirst unique identifier or information derived from the first uniqueidentifier to at least one of the one or more servers, and receiving thestored information in response.
 13. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising: wherein the stored information is received by the wirelessdevice from at least one of the one or more servers prior to theperforming of the first further action.
 14. The method of claim 2further comprising: wherein the stored information is received by thewireless device from at least one of the one or more servers prior tothe performing of the first further action.
 15. The method of claim 1further comprising: wherein the stored information is used to determineif the first unique identifier is present among the first selected oneor more unique identifiers.
 16. The method of claim 2 wherein all beacontransmitter devices participating in the wireless beacon service havethe same beacon service identifier for identifying the beacontransmitters as being enabled with the wireless beacon service.
 17. Themethod of claim 2 wherein the second further action comprises:determining, based upon at least a portion of the stored information,that the beacon transmitter is associated with a predetermined location.18. The method of claim 2 wherein one or more of the steps performed bythe wireless device are performed as a result of an application programexecuting on the wireless device utilizing a software interface.
 19. Theclaim of 2 wherein the second further action is related to a producttied to a location.
 20. The claim of 2 wherein the second further actionis related to an advertisement tied to a location.
 21. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the first further action includes determining an addressor location associated with the wireless device based at least in partupon the first unique identifier being associated with a pre-determinedlocation, and wherein the wireless device is located indoors where a GPSsignal may not be available.
 22. The method of claim 2 wherein thesecond further action includes determining an address or locationassociated with the wireless device based at least in part upon thesecond unique identifier being associated with a pre-determinedlocation, wherein the wireless device is located indoors where a GPSsignal may not be available.
 23. The method of claim 2 wherein thesecond further action includes steps to allow for a user associated withthe wireless device to be provided access to an object or deviceassociated with the wireless beacon service.
 24. The method of claim 2wherein the step of taking second further action additionally comprises:controlling further communications between the wireless device and atleast one device or server associated with an entity or object inproximity to the wireless device.
 25. The method of claim 3 furthercomprising: receiving, by the wireless device, timing notificationinformation for coordination of active times for beacon transmissions.26. The method of claim 25 wherein the receiving, by the wireless deviceof the timing notification information is not directly from the beacontransmitter.
 27. The method of claim 2 wherein the stored information isused to determine if the second unique identifier is present among thesecond selected one or more unique identifiers.
 28. The method of claim1 wherein the MAC address is a randomly generated 48 bit number matchinga format of a Bluetooth BD_ADDR.
 29. The method of claim 3 wherein theshort range protocol is derived from Bluetooth.
 30. A mobile wirelessdevice comprising: one or more radios for providing reception andtransmission for each of a Bluetooth wireless protocol and a secondwireless protocol; one or more processors; and one or morenon-transitory memory devices coupled to the one or more processors, theone or more non-transitory memory devices storing a set of instructionsthat when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or moreprocessors to perform operations including: receiving from a beacontransmitter, using the Bluetooth wireless protocol, a first plurality ofbeacon transmissions during a first time period, each of the beacontransmissions including (a) a MAC address, (b) a unique identifier,wherein the first unique identifier does not directly identify alocation of the beacon transmitter, and (c) a beacon service identifier,wherein the beacon service identifier is a number indicating that eachbeacon transmission is associated with a wireless beacon service;receiving from one or more servers, using the second wireless protocol,stored information related to an entity or object associated with thefirst unique; selecting one or more unique identifiers from the firstplurality of beacon transmissions, by filtering the beacon transmissionswhich include the beacon service identifier indicating that a particularreceived beacon transmission is associated with the wireless beaconservice; taking first further action relating to the stored information,if the first unique identifier is present among the selected one or moreunique identifiers; and and the operations further including: receiving,by the wireless device, using the Bluetooth wireless protocol wireless,during a second time period, a second plurality of beacon transmissions,each of the second plurality of beacon transmissions comprising threefields (a) a MAC address, (b) a unique identifier, wherein the uniqueidentifier of each respective beacon transmission does not directlyidentify a location of a beacon transmitter, and (c) a beacon serviceidentifier, wherein the beacon service identifier of each respectivebeacon transmission is a number; selecting one or more of the uniqueidentifiers from the second plurality of beacon transmissions, byfiltering the beacon transmissions which include the same beacon serviceidentifier indicating that a particular received beacon transmission isassociated with the same wireless beacon service; taking second furtheraction relating to the stored information, if a second unique identifieris present among the selected one or more unique identifiers, whereinthe second unique identifier is associated with the same entity orobject, and wherein the second unique identifier is not equal to thefirst unique identifier; and wherein the MAC address received in abeacon transmission including the second unique identifier is differentfrom the MAC address received in a beacon transmission including thefirst unique identifier, but each such beacon transmission includes thesame beacon service identifier.